On February 11, two high school wrestlers from Louisiana celebrated their state title victories in an unusual manner.
When Southside High School wrestlers Landon Reaux and Wiley Boudreaux bodyslammed their head coach Mike Stelly to the mat, the incident was captured on camera.
The first wrestler in the video, senior Reaux, tears off his helmet after defeating Watts Goodson of Catholic Hight, 11-10, to win the 120-pound championship, according to The Acadiana Advocate.
Reaux embraced Stelly before throwing him to the ground. They both appeared before the boisterous crowd at the Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City.
Wiley Boudreaux, a senior for Southside, then pinned Conan Enk of St. Paul’s in just 5:55 to claim the 138-pound championship. Soon later, Boudreaux smirked at his coach and used another bodyslam to knock him off his feet.
“It is fun to finish a race and fall,” Boudreaux told the publication. “There are more team points. It’s good to win after such a lengthy battle, but winning is winning.”
In my three decades of covering sports, I’ve witnessed many crazy celebrations, but none quite like this.
State champion Southside wrestlers are permitted to body slam their coach Mike Stelly.
Tonight, Landon Reaux and Wiley Boudreaux took exactly this photograph.
twitter.com/530uU5syC3
— Eric Richey (12 February 2023) (@EricRicheyVSN)
Boudreaux finished the season 50-4 while Reaux went 49-5, according to scorebooklive.
The video’s comment section was swamped with a variety of social media responses, with some users praising the viral moment and others not finding it particularly amusing.
“It appears to be the purest form of respect between a coach and an athlete. Respect,” said one user.
Another tweet questioned the players’ and coach’s prank, saying, “Buddy? What will occur if he loses? Yikes.
The team set a school record by finishing eighth in the Division I team standings.
»High school wrestlers in Louisiana bodyslam their coach to celebrate state championships«